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Reading Instruction

Kristina Curtis

Della Hoffman

EDUC 647

Portfolio

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Table of Contents

Introduction 3

Pedagogical Framework 3

Part One: Pre-reading Activities 5

1 Pre-questioning and Predicting 6

2 KWL 7

3 Memory/Concentration Game 9

4 How Well Do You Know That Word? 10

5 Word Web 12

6 Preposition Charades 14

7 Concept Map 15

8 What Holds Us Together? 16

9 Word Shuffle 17

10 Word Sorts 18

Part Two: During-reading Activities 20

11 Oral Reading 21

12 Cornell Notes 22

13 Discussion Cubes 24

14 Venn Diagram 26

15 Dear Diary 28

Part Three: Post-reading Activities 29

16 Summarizing- On A Budget 30

17 Make a Comic Book 31

18 Who? What? Where? When? Why? Booklet 33

19 What‟s the Problem? 34

20 Readers‟ Theater 36

21 Story Sequencing 37

References 39

3

Introduction

Our portfolio is a compilation of reading activities, but also includes activities that involve mutually

supportive skills such as writing and vocabulary development. These games, activities, and graphic

organizers can be adapted for a variety of grade and skill levels, although some are more appropriate for

certain skill levels than others. These activities are useful for English Language Learners and native speakers

alike. Because of their sound pedagogical foundations, these activities can be used in the mainstream and

ESL classroom.

We have organized our portfolio into three sections: Pre-reading Activities, During-reading

Activities, and Post-reading Activities. Part I, Pre-reading Activities, includes activities that involve the

activation of schemata through graphic organizers, vocabulary and grammar exercises, pre-questioning and

predicting. Part II, During-reading Activities, helps students interact with the text and includes graphic

organizers and fluency exercises. Part III, Post-reading Exercises, helps students to work with the

knowledge gained from the text and includes skills such as summarizing, sequencing, comparing and

contrasting. This section also includes activities that allow students to extend their understanding beyond the

text through creative, interactive and fun activities.

Pedagogical Framework

The reading activities in this portfolio have been created on the basis of principled eclecticism.

Though there are many different approaches to teaching reading, we believe that each has its own specific

strengths that can be drawn upon in order to create effective lessons. All of these approaches to reading can

be considered to address either top-down or bottom-up processing. According to Brown, top-down

processing involves “conceptually driven strategies for comprehension” (2004, p. 185). This type of

processing requires looking at the text as a whole and using prior knowledge and experience to construct

meaning. Bottom-up processing, on the other hand, involves the basic fundamentals of reading, such as

processing letters, words, phrases, and details (Brown, 2004, p. 185). As Jo Gielow mentioned in her lecture

on reading, this is an essential part of reading instruction that is often overlooked by instructors using the

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communicative approach. We believe that both bottom-up and top-down processing activities are necessary

for students to effectively read and fully comprehend the text. This belief leads us to define our pedagogical

framework as one of principled eclecticism. The combination of multiple approaches ensures that the

students interact with the text in many different ways, using both top-down and bottom-up approaches, and

addresses multiple skills that are necessary for a good reader to develop.

Mikulecky (1990) describes reading as a process. Teachers can support this process using pre-,

during-, and post-reading activities, all of which utilize both top-down and bottom-up processes. Barbara

Prillaman (personal communication, Spring 2008) stressed this point in our course Literacy for English

Language Learners. Fitzgerald and Graves (2004) discuss the importance of these types of activities in their

book Scaffolding Reading Experiences for English-Language Learners. They believe that pre-reading

exercises help students to read fluently, understand and learn from what they will read, and create an overall

enjoyable and rewarding reading experience. During-reading exercises help students interact with the text

and construct meaning, and post-reading exercises encourage the students to do something with the material

that they read and “to think critically, logically, and creatively” (p. 205) about the information in the text. In

this portfolio, we have included activities of all three types.

Although our activities draw from several different language methods, we have based them largely on

the principles of Communicative Language Teaching. We believe that language is a communicative function

and that reading must be for a purpose. Relevance, authenticity, and function should be the foundation for

successful reading activities for not only English Language Learners, but for all students. The basic literacy

skills that we focus on in our portfolio are equally important for all developing readers.

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Pre-reading Activities

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Activity Number 1

Title: Pre-questioning and Predicting

Level: any

Grade: any

Goal: to activate schemata and previous knowledge

Skill Area: reading

Prerequisites: Students must be able to listen to or read the pre-reading questions.

The goal of this activity is to get students primed and interested for the upcoming reading selection,

activate their schemata, and make the reading selection more relevant to their lives. Pre-questioning and

predicting are very important pre-reading activities because they warm the student up to the selection and get

them focused on what they will read.

Pre-questioning and predicting can be used at any level with any reading selection, and can also be

adapted and differentiated according to the varying needs and levels of students.

Source: Fitzgerald, J. & Graves, M. (2004).

Instruction:

Hand out individual copies of reading selection. If individual copies are not available, ask students to

look at the teacher‟s copy together. If there is a cover, ask the students to take a moment to look at the cover.

Ask students questions about the cover. Ask students to read the title and think about what it might mean. If

the book contains illustrations, ask students to do a “picture walk” by scanning the illustrations without

reading the words. Finally, ask students to predict what the story will be about based on the title and the

pictures they saw, and if they know anything about the subject from their own lives.

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Activity Number 2

Title: KWL

Level: mid beginning- advanced

Grade: any

Goal: to activate background knowledge

Skill Area: reading

Prerequisites: Students must have some speaking and listening ability.

This KWL activity is designed to activate learners‟ background knowledge about a specific topic.

This activity can be useful with any reading selection as a pre-reading activity because it asks students to

think about and discuss what they already know about a topic and what they would like to learn about it.

This activity should be started before students read a selection and continued as a post-reading

activity after students have read one or many texts relating to a specific topic. It can be used at almost any

skill or age level.

Materials: KWL graphic organizer (1 per student OR 1 transparency)

Instruction:

Handout or display the KWL graphic. Write the topic on the top of the chart. Ask students what they

know about the topic. Allow students to brainstorm together. Write what they know the K column. Next,

ask them what they want to learn about the topic. Allow time for students to come up with questions. Write

their responses in the W column.

After students have read the text(s), ask them what they have learned about the topic through their

reading. Write their responses in the L column.

Example:

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Activity Number 3

Title: Memory/Concentration Game

Level: low beginning - intermediate

Grade: any

Goal: to practice vocabulary, linking word to form

Skill Area: vocabulary

Prerequisites: Students must have been introduced to the vocabulary being learned.

The Memory/Concentration game is a great way for students to practice their vocabulary after they

have been introduced to new words. This is an active and fun way for students to learn. This game helps

students to recognize the written words and link them to their physical form. It also requires students to

stretch their short-term memory which is an important skill in reading and in other aspects of language

learning as they must keep information in their memory long enough to construct meaning from an extended

reading or listening task.

This activity works best with vocabulary that can easily be translated into an image and will probably

be better for lower level, younger learners. However, because it is a competitive game, it may engage

students of all ages.

Materials: Cards- words with corresponding pictures.

Instruction:

Pass out cards to student groups (pairs or more). They should be placed face down in rows on a flat

playing surface. The students will take turns flipping over two cards. If the cards match (word to picture)

then the student removes and keeps those cards. He or she may then guess two more cards. If the student

chooses two cards that do not match, then the cards are returned to face down position. The next student

now has a chance to guess. The goal is for students to remember the location of the cards that have already

been turned over. The game should continue until all cards have been won by the players. The winner is the

student who has gained the most number of card pairs.

Example:

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Activity Number 4

Title: How Well Do You Know That Word?

Level: high beginning to advanced

Grade: any

Goal: to explore new vocabulary


Prerequisites: Students must have some prior skill in writing and be able to read with some

comprehension.

The goal of this activity is to get students to think about and explore the definitions of words. The

students can work in groups to construct meaning with the new words. When students have to actively

discover the meanings of words then they will more likely to remember them then if they were simply

memorizing definitions.

This activity is a great way to introduce new vocabulary to students and can be used at a variety of

levels. Students who can not express themselves in full sentences can use single words or draw pictures on

the worksheet.

Materials: How Well Do You Know That Word? Worksheet

Source: Adapted from Prillaman (2008)

Instruction:

Hand out the worksheet and give students the new vocabulary which should be taken directly out of

the text that they will read. Students should do the first four columns of the worksheet alone. In column 1,

they should write the new word. In column 2, they should rate how well they know the word (4 = I know

the word well and can define it. 3 = I sort of know the word and but I can’t define it well. 2 = I have see the

word before, but I don’t know what it means. 1 = I have never seen this word before.) In column 3, they

should find the word in a sentence in the text. In column 4, they should write the meaning to the best of their

ability and explain what they wrote. The students should work with a group to fill out the rest of the sheet.

They should discuss the meaning with their group and fill in column 5. Finally, in column 6, they should

write the real meaning of the word either from the dictionary or a teacher‟s definition. This worksheet can

be kept in a journal which grows as students learn new words like their own personal dictionary.

Example:

Comment [h1]: This was from class… Do you

think I should site it like this with the date? Or

should I indicate personal communication like we

did in the intro/framework?

12

Activity Number 5

Title: Word Web

Level: intermediate to advanced

Grade: upper elementary to adult

Goal: to explore new vocabulary



comprehension. They must have some prior instruction in prefixes, roots, and suffixes of

words.

The goal of this activity is to get students to think about and explore the meanings of words. The

students can work in groups to construct meaning with the new words. When students have to actively

discover the meanings of words then they will more likely to remember them then if they were simply

memorizing definitions. Part of the goal of this activity is for students to learn the parts of words which will

help them to identify the meanings of new words in the future.

Materials: Word Web Worksheet

Source: Adapted from Gunter, Estes, and Mintz, 2007

Instruction:

Hand out the worksheet and give students the new vocabulary words. They will need one sheet per

word. Students should write a new word in the center of the web. They can work in pairs or small groups to

fill out the rest of the worksheet. The students should identify the prefix, root, and suffix if applicable. They

should write any related words in the box to the left; these can include synonyms, antonyms, or other words

that they think are related. Any words are acceptable as long as the students can describe their reasoning to

the teacher/class. Students should then fill in the definition and write a sentence using the word. This

worksheet can be kept in a journal which grows as students learn new words like their own personal

dictionary.

Example:

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Activity Number 6

Title: Preposition Charades

Level: low beginning to advanced

Grade: any

Goal: to understand and be able to use prepositions

Skill Area: grammar and vocabulary

Prerequisites: Students should have been introduced to prepositions.

This activity is highly active and is designed to get students excited about what could be a potentially

boring grammar concept. Because prepositions are often difficult to define, this activity is designed to help

students remember their meanings in a fun and visual way. Using this kind of game in the classroom can

also help create an atmosphere of trust and respect in the classroom and increase students‟ communicative

confidence. This confidence will help them take the risks which are so important in language learning.

This game can be used with any age group and any proficiency level.

Materials: Several slips of paper with preposition words on them, in a bag.

Source: Adapted from Stevens (2008)

Instruction:

Place slips of paper with preposition words in a bag of some sort. Divide students into pairs. Each

pair should come to the front of the class and draw one of the slips from the hat. They should consult briefly

about how to act out the preposition without talking. The class has to guess which preposition they are

acting out. The student that guesses should come to the front with their partner and draw another card. The

game can continue until all students have had a turn to act or until the slips of paper run out.

Comment [h2]: I guess this is the same issue of

reference as earlier with Barbara. I guess he can‟t

get too update about how we do things the citations, right?

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Activity Number 7

Title: Concept Map

Level: any


Goal: to activate background knowledge and/or organize information learned in a text

Skill Area: reading

Prerequisites: none

The goal of this activity is to get students to think about concepts. Students will able to create a

visual representation of their knowledge, creating connections in the shape of a web. This visual

organization can help students of different learning styles better understand a topic by exploring their

background knowledge and outlining new or old connections.

Students from all levels can create a concept map. Those students who do not have enough

vocabulary to write words can draw pictures. This activity can be a pre-reading activity to get students

thinking about the concept and activating their background knowledge, or it can be done as a during- or post-

reading activity. As a during-reading activity, it can be a tool to help students organize the information from

the text. As a post-reading activity, it can be done as a way for students to organize and demonstrate what

they have learned about a concept.

Materials: Blank paper or a concept map outline

Instruction:

Concept maps can take many forms. Many start with the word in the middle. Students can create

connections through arrows to other words or concepts. More advanced students should write along the line

how the two concepts are connected. The concept map can start in the middle and move out, or start at the

top and move down in sequence, or even move in a circular fashion. The shape should be up to the learner

and should reflect the way that they are thinking about the concept.

If the concept map is being used as a during-reading activity then it may be useful for the teacher to

create the outline.

Example:

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Activity Number 8

Title: What Holds Us Together?

Level: mid beginning to advanced

Grade: any

Goal: to activate and build background knowledge and to develop the reading strategy of

identifying the main idea

Skill Area: reading

Prerequisites: Students must have some reading ability, more than just decoding.

The goal of this activity is to help students create relationships between concepts. Talking about

concepts as a pre-reading activity will activate students‟ background knowledge as well as potentially build

new knowledge which relates to their reading.

This activity can also be used to help students learn to identify the topic or main idea of a group of

words. This will help them develop effective reading strategies. Accurately choosing the topic of a reading

text is an essential step in understanding the information within it. It is also a very important first step to

summarizing which is an important tool for students.

Source: Adapted from Gunter, Estes, and Mintz (2007) and Mikulecky (1990)

Instruction:

Variation 1: Give students a list of words or short phrases. Ask them to identify the word that is the topic of

the group of words.

Variation 2: Give students two lists of words or short phrases. The first list should include words that can be

described using the topic word. The second list should be a group of non-examples. Students should attempt

to come up with the topic or concept.

Example:

1: Pick the topic:

read a book write a paper work with a partner go to gym

eat lunch things to do at school raise your hand listen to a teacher

2: Examples Non-Examples Topic?

car walk transportation modes with wheels

train boat

bicycle plane

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Activity Number 9

Title: Word Shuffle Level: beginning to intermediate

Grade: elementary to young adult

Goal: to develop automaticity for sight words

Skill area: reading and writing

Pre-requisites: Students must have appropriate decoding skills.

An important micro-skill of reading is the development of automaticity and recognition of sight

words. This activity helps students practice sight word recognition and initial sounds in the form of a fun

and competitive game.

This activity can be used in any classroom that has a Word Wall for spelling and vocabulary words.

Materials: Paper and pencil (1 per student) OR individual dry-erase boards, dry-erase markers, and erasers

(1 per student)

Source: Adapted from Callella, T. (2001).

Instruction:

Ask students to turn around or hide their eyes as you remove six words from the Word Wall and

place them under the wrong letters. After students open their eyes, ask them to quietly write down the six

words that have been placed under the incorrect letter, along with the correct letter that each word belongs

under. Call on individual students to identify each misplaced word, and if they are correct, invite them to

come up to the word wall and place the word where it belongs. Repeat activity until all of the words have

been shuffled, or as time permits.

Variation 1: In order for a student to have the opportunity to correctly place the word on the Word Wall, the

student must turn away from the Word Wall and their board (or paper) and correctly spell the word.

Variation 2: In order for a student to have the opportunity to correctly place the word on the Word Wall, the

student must they must correctly use the word in a sentence.

Example:

Comment [h3]: Does this make sense as an example? I can delete it if you want?

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Activity Number 10

Title: Word Sorts Level: mid beginning- advanced

Grade: any

Goal: to introduce new vocabulary and to reinforce old vocabulary

Skill Area: reading and vocabulary

Prerequisites: Students must have de-coding skills sufficient enough for the given words.

Vocabulary is an integral part of understanding a reading selection, but students should also benefit from

reading selections by gaining new vocabulary. Word sorts help to build vocabulary by both introducing new

vocabulary, as well as reinforcing old vocabulary. This type of vocabulary instruction is most useful for words that

require instruction in school, that is, tier two and tier three words.

Words from a reading selection are determined ahead of time and printed on small pieces of paper. There will

be one word per square. Students will either be instructed to sort or categorize the words however the like (open sort)

or in the way that the teacher instructs (closed sort). An example of a closed sort may be „Words I Know‟ versus

„Words I Don‟t Know‟ or „Noun‟, „Verb‟, „Adjective‟, depending on the particular set of words and the purpose for the

reading.

Materials: Vocabulary sheet, Zip-lock sandwich bag (1 each per student), 1 overhead of vocabulary sheet

Source: Adapted from Prillaman (2008)

Instruction:

Hand out vocabulary sheet and Zip-lock bags, one of each per student, instructing them to cut out all of the

words. For a closed sort, have students group the words into those they know and those they don't know. As a class,

students can then discuss words they do not know and help each other come up with definitions. You may model how

to do this in of the class or on an overhead. After the students have sorted the words and discussed their organization,

the teacher will clear up any misunderstandings of word meaning through the use of definitions and pictures. Word

sorts help students to see and create relationships between words. For an open sort, students will categorize the words

as they please, but must be able to support their decision for grouping the words by describing how the words in a pile

are similar to each other and how they are different from words that were placed in other categories.

When the students are finished, instruct them to place their words in the Zip-lock bag for later use. They may

re-use these words for another word sort in the future, sorting them differently.

Example:

Comment [h4]: Still don‟t know about this one! =)

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Word Sorts

Formatted Table

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During-reading Activities

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Activity Number 11

Title: Oral Reading

Level: low beginning to low intermediate


Goal: to develop students‟ reading fluency

Skill Area: reading

Prerequisites: Students must have some decoding skills.

The main goal of any oral reading activity is for students to read out loud as a group. Reading along

with more experienced readers can increase students‟ confidence which can make them more motivated to

read. It can also help with their decoding skills and allow them to practice linking spoken and written

language which will increase their reading fluency. Overall, this is a technique that helps students practice

their reading skills in a supportive and non-threatening environment.

Source: Fitzgerald & Graves (2004) and Copeland (2007)

Instruction:

Oral reading can be done in a variety of ways: choral reading, paired or buddy reading, echo reading.

All of these activities are focused on students following a model of good reading. In choral reading, a group

of students read together, preferably with the teacher. This increases their confidence because each

individual student is not being asked to speak alone. Paired or buddy reading should be done with two

students. It can work with students of any level but works best when pairing a more advanced reader with a

less advanced one. This way, the modeling element of the activity is strong. Echo reading requires the

teacher to read a sentence and have one student or many repeat or echo the sentence. The student will hear

the passage read with correct pronunciation, intonation, and tone and can therefore attempt to reproduce

exactly what they heard.

Comment [h5]: I don‟t know whether or not to

cite Kate. I mean, I used some of the information

from her handout, but I‟m sure she‟s not the person

who created the idea of choral or paired reading.

What do you think I should do?

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Activity Number 12

Title: Cornell Notes Level: high intermediate to advanced

Grade: young adult to adult

Goal: to support reading comprehension in content-based instruction

Skill Area: reading and writing

Prerequisites: Students must be familiar with note-taking, and must have been introduced to concepts of main-

idea and summary.

This outline is meant to provide ongoing support for students over an extended period of time. The writing in

this activity guides and supports reading comprehension. In order for a student to get the most from academic

instruction, they must be able to gather and comprehend important information from assigned texts.

This activity also helps students develop good reading and note-taking skills by requiring the student to

summarize and select main ideas. It encourages students to consider what they understand and ask questions about

what they do not.

Note: This outline can also be used for a lecture.

Materials: Notes outline (1 or more copies per student), 1 transparency with example notes (optional)

Source: Adapted from James Madison University Special Education Program (2008).

Instruction:

Give each student one or more copies of the notes outline. Make more copies available as needed.

Introduce the notes outline by reviewing concepts such as main idea and summary. Show students overhead

example with notes, carefully going through every section and reviewing the importance of the topic, main idea,

questions, and the summary.

Have students practice by using this for a reading selection that they have already been assigned or that you

assign to them. Depending on the age and level, monitor student progress as needed by checking the students‟ notes

periodically.

Example:

Comment [h6]: Is Middle School young adult or would we call it “middle school.” What do you

think?

Formatted: Font: 11 pt

Comment [h7]: Is this supposed to say Main Ideas in both columns or just one?

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Activity Number 13

Title: Discussion Cubes



Goal: to encourage metacognitive reading strategies and questioning and to support reading

comprehension

Skill Area: reading


comprehension.

This during reading activity encourages students to stop and think about what they have read, and to

ask questions about anything they do not understand. This not only answers any questions that the students

may have regarding the selection, but also fosters metacognitive literacy skills that are essential for a good

reader to develop.

Discussion cubes offer the opportunity for students to ask comprehension questions or questions

regarding vocabulary, and allow students to work in groups to answer each other‟s questions, incorporating

communicative language with cooperative learning.

Materials: Discussion Cubes worksheet (1 per student)

Sources: Adapted from Angell, P., Isakson, P., Myers, J., & Shay, D.,1996

Instruction: Show students worksheet. Cut out the cube on the solid lines, and write one example question

that you have about the reading selection on each side of the box. Fold the dashed lines and tape. Model the

activity for the students by rolling the cube and reading the question on the top. Ask any of the students if

they can help you answer that question.

Break students up into small groups, no larger than 4. Hand each student a worksheet and ask them

to cut the cube, write on it, and tape it. When everyone in the group is finished making their cube, instruct

them to begin rolling the cubes, one at a time, answering the questions that come up until everyone in the

group has had all questions answered.

Example:

Comment [h8]: What do you think of this new

example cube?

25

Discussion Cubes

Think of six questions about the story that you have read so far. Remember to ask

different kind of questions; for example, a question about vocabulary or about the

conflict of the story.

Make a discussion cube from the pattern below. Cut out the cube on the solid lines.

Write one question on each side of the box. Carefully fold the dashed lines. With

tape, secure the tabs in the cube so it will resemble a closed box.

In a small group, take turns gently rolling the cubes and responding to the questions

that appear on top.

26

Activity Number 14

Title: Venn Diagram

Level: mid beginning to advanced


Goal: to develop students‟ reading strategy of comparing and contrasting

Skill Area: reading and writing

Prerequisites: Students must have some reading ability as well as some writing ability. Students must

have been introduced to the concept of comparing and contrasting.

Commonly used in the mainstream classroom for English Language Arts, the Venn diagram is a

useful tool for students in that it supports comprehension, provides discussion of detail, and develops

important reading strategies such as comparing and contrasting.

Venn diagrams are very useful in that they can be used for almost any piece of literature at a variety

of levels. The reading and writing skills used in this activity are mutually supportive and help students to

develop balanced literacy skills.

Materials: Venn Diagram graphic organizer (1 per student OR 1 transparency)

Source: Adapted from Haynes, J. (2008).

Instruction:

Hand out worksheet or display the Venn Diagram. Fill in the name of the two characters (objects,

places, etc.) that are being compared on the top of each oval. Write „Both‟ in the center where the ovals

intersect. Ask students to brainstorm, considering what makes the two things being compared alike, and

what makes them different. Model this for the students by writing one detail in each appropriate section.

You may brainstorm together beforehand for words to put in the word bank, or you may ask students to

brainstorm and do this on their own, depending on their level.

When students are finished, discuss together all of the details that students discovered were similar or

different. Ask students to write down any details they might have missed that other students found.

Note: This can also be used as a post-reading activity.

Example:

28

Activity Number 15

Title: Dear Diary Level: low intermediate to advanced

Grade: any

Goal: to reinforce concept of point-of-view, to practice summarizing


Pre-requisites: Students must have been introduced to the conventions of letter writing and the concept

of point-of-view.

Writing to support reading helps to develop balanced literacy skills for students. Letter writing is a

fun, interesting way to get the students to interact with the text. When students write from the point-of-view

of the protagonist, it provides an opportunity for assessment of their reading comprehension and their

descriptive writing skills. This also provides practice for summarizing and identification of conflict.

Source: Adapted from Fitzgerald & Graves (2004).

Instruction:

Once the conflict of the story has been introduced, ask the students to create a diary entry from the

point-of-view of the protagonist. Tell them that they must provide enough information about the conflict in

the story so that someone who has never read it before will understand the conflict and how the conflict has

occurred. Tell students that they may want to include a summary of what has happened so far in the reading

selection, identify the conflict, and predict what the character will do or come up with a possible solution.

Note: For lower level students, the diary entry may be shortened or may be turned into a short „postcard‟

composed of only a few sentences.

29

Post-reading Activities

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Activity Number 16

Title: Summarizing- On A Budget


Grade: any

Goal: to develop students‟ reading strategy of summarizing

Skill Area: reading

Prerequisites: Students must be have some reading ability, more than just decoding, as well as some

writing ability. Students must have been introduced to the concept of summarizing.

Summarizing is a very important and a very difficult skill. It requires students to look at the whole

text, decide what is most important, and re-state it in their own words. Reading and writing are mutually

supportive skills. Writing allows students to actively manipulate what they have learned. This activity

incorporates writing as a tool to support the learning of reading strategies.

This activity is designed to help students understand that summarizing is not just re-copying the story

and that a summary is supposed to be shorter than the original text. This activity also combines reading

skills with math skills.

Source: Adapted from Prillaman???

Instruction:

After students read a text, explain that they should write a summary. Tell them that each word costs a

certain amount of money and they have a limited amount of money.

Example:

Prompt: Write a summary of the reading. Each word costs $.10 and you have only $2.00 to spend.

Comment [h9]: I really don‟t remember at all

where this activity came from. It might have been

Barbara. Do you think its better to credit the wrong

person or give no credit??

31

Activity Number 17

Title: Make a Comic Book

Level: low intermediate to advanced


Goal: to develop students‟ reading strategy of summarizing

Skill Area: reading

Prerequisites: Students must be have some reading ability, more than just decoding, as well as some

writing ability. Students must have been introduced to the concept of summarizing.

Summarizing is a very important and a very difficult skill. This activity allows students to work on

the skill of summarizing in an alternative way. Integrating art with reading skills will reach more students by

attracting those with different learning styles. Creating a comic book will encourage critical thinking because

students will have to decide what to include and what not to include based on what they learned in the text

(Fitzgerald & Graves, 2004). It will also be a fun activity which may increase students‟ motivation.

Instruction:

After students read a text, explain that they are going to be retelling the story by making a comic

book. They should integrate illustrations with words to recreate the story. In order to force students to focus

on the most important events in the story, the teacher may want to limit the number of frames found in the

comic book story.

Example:

.

33

Activity Number 18

Title: Who? What? Where? When? Why? Booklet

Level: low beginning to intermediate

Grade: elementary

Goal: to answer WH-questions related to a story

Skill Area: reading

Prerequisites: Students must have been introduced to WH-questions.

This activity is designed to help students identify the elements of a story that make up the summary.

The WH-questions help students develop the tools they will need to retell or summarize a story. It is

sometimes difficult for students to realize that all of the WH-questions are required to adequately summarize

a story. This is a fun activity that allows students to create their own little book related to the story.

Source: Adapted from Fitzpatrick, J. (1999).

Instruction:

Pass out a piece of blank paper to each student. Students should fold the paper once the long way.

Then they should fold the paper into thirds, making a small book. On the front page, they should write Who?

and either write or draw the who of the story (second page- When? Third page- What? (the conflict/plot)

Fourth page-Where? Fifth page- Why?) As students get more advanced they can draw a picture and add a

sentence to describe it which answers the WH-question addressed on the page.

Example:

34

Activity Number 19

Title: What’s the Problem?

Level: high beginner to advanced


Goal: to support reading comprehension, to make personal connections with the text

Skill: reading and writing

Pre-requisites: Students must be familiar with the organization of narratives and have been introduced

to concepts of problem and solution.

Understanding story organization is an integral part of reading comprehension. Many narratives,

short stories, etc., are organized around a problem and a solution. Students must be able to identify the

central problem in the reading selection, figure out what the character did to solve the problem and whether

or not it worked. This also connects the text to the readers‟ lives by comparing similar problems, as well as

develops students‟ problem-solving skills.

Materials: What’s the problem? handout (1 per student), 1 transparency

Source: Adapted from Fitzgerald & Graves (2004)

Instruction:

Hand out What’s the problem? worksheet, one per student. After the students have completed a

reading selection, model the chart by filling it out the first time as a class. Discuss the character‟s problem,

how the character attempted to solve the problem, etc. Ask if any of the students have had a similar problem,

or use yourself as an example to fill out the remainder of the chart.

Example:

36

Activity Number 20

Title: Readers’ Theater Level: high beginning to advanced

Grade: any

Goal: to develop oral reading fluency

Skill area: reading and speaking

Pre-requisites: Students must have some decoding skills.

Readers‟ theater provides the opportunity for students to read aloud, bringing the story to life. By

assigning students individual roles, they personally interact with the text and incorporate drama into the

classroom. This helps students develop confidence, oral reading fluency, and oral intelligibility. It should be

noted that this activity works best with a reading selection that includes dialogue.

Source: Adapted from Rosenberg, M. (2000).

Instruction:

Assign individual students to different characters. Either the teacher or a student may act as the

narrator, if there is one. Have the students read their dialogue accordingly, using their own interpretations of

the characters‟ emotions.

Note: It is best not to force students to read aloud if they feel uncomfortable doing so.

Adaptation:

As a supplemental writing activity, students may re-write a short section of the reading selection to

include more dialogue, then perform their piece.

Comment [h10]: Is this a during reading

activity?

37

Activity Number 21

Title: Story Sequencing


Grade: any

Goal: to support reading comprehension through sequencing


Pre-requisites: Students must be familiar with concept of beginning, middle, and end, and must be able

to summarize.

Re-telling a story in the order that it occurred aids in reading comprehension, as well as develops

schema for general story sequence. Students must re-tell the story in their own words in the order that it

happened, separating the story into three parts- beginning, middle, and end. This will prime the students to

break down the story further into a greater number of events as they develop, and be able to identify

exposition, conflict, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution.

Materials: Story Sequencing graphic organizer (1 per student), Story Sequencing graphic organizer

overhead (optional)

Instruction: After students have finished reading selection, hand out Story Sequencing graphic organizer.

Remind students that a story has a beginning, middle, and an end, or what happens first, next, and last. Model

summarizing the beginning, middle, and end by showing students the example graphic organizer. Remind

students that when re-telling the beginning, middle, and end, the main ideas are most important and details

can be left out.

Example:

38

Beginning

Middle

End

39

Resources

Angell, P., Isakson, P., Myers, J., & Shay, D., (1996). A Guide for Using Stone Fox in the Classroom.

California: Teacher Created Materials, Inc.

Brown, H.D. (2004). Language Assessment: Principles and Classroom Practices. New

York: Pearson Education, Inc.

Callella, T. (2001). Making Your Word Wall More Interactive. California: Creative Teaching Press.

Fitzgerald, J. & Graves, M. F. (2004). Scaffolding Reading Experiences for English-

Language Learners. Massachusetts: Christopher-Gordon Publishers, Inc.

Fitzpatrick, J. (1999). Teaching Beginning Writing (K. P. Hall, Ed.). California: Creative Teaching Press,

Inc.

Gielow, J. “Teaching Reading.” EDUC647 Advanced TESL Methods, Design, and

Procedures. University of Delaware 18 Nov. 2008.

Haynes, J. (2008). Graphic Organizers for Content Instruction. Retrieved from

http://www.everythingesl.net/downloads/venn_diagram.pdf.

James Madison University Special Education Program (2008). The Learning Toolbox Home: Cornell Notes.

Retrieved from http://coe.jmu.edu/learningtoolbox/cornellnotes.html.

Mikulecky, B. S. (1990). A Short Course in Teaching Reading Skills. Massachusetts:

Addison-Wesley Publishing Company.

Rosenberg, M. (2000). A Guide for Using The Mitten in the Classroom. California: Teacher Created

Materials, Inc.

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